Impact Evaluation of Infrastructure Interventions

The focus on results in development agencies has led to increased focus on impact evaluation to demonstrate the effectiveness of development programmes. This book illustrates the broad range of methods available for counterfactual analysis of infrastructure programmes such as establishment, rehabilitation and maintenance of roads, water supply and electrical power plants and grids.

Understanding the impact of interventions requires understanding of the context in which the intervention takes place and the channels through which it is expected to occur. For infrastructure interventions it is particularly important to identify the links between the input and the outcomes and impacts because the well-being of people, the ultimate impact, does not change directly as a consequence of the intervention. Therefore impact evaluation of infrastructure programmes typically requires mixing both quantitative and qualitative approaches as illustrated in many of the contribution to this edited volume.

This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Development Effectiveness.

Henrik Hansen is Professor of International Economics and Politics at the Institute of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. He is also Co-Director of the Centre for Social Science Development Research at University of Copenhagen and a renowned expert in applied statistics and econometrics.

Ole Winckler Andersen is Head of the Evaluation Department at Danida, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark. He has been a member of management committees for several evaluations including the new evaluation of the UN, Delivering as One, where he was appointed by the UN Secretary General.

Howard White is the Executive Director of the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie). He is also Adjunct Professor at the Alfred Deakin Research Institute, Deakin University, Co-Chair of the Campbell Collaboration International Development Coordinating Group and Managing Editor of the Journal of Development Studies and the Journal of Development Effectiveness.